How to complain about your IVA or change provider

Most problems with an IVA are about money, communication or a decision you disagree with. The route depends on who you are complaining about: the insolvency practitioner running your IVA, a firm that advised or referred you, or a creditor. Each has its own process and time limits, and none of them lets you simply switch provider as you would with a phone contract.

Who do you complain to?

Step 1: complain to the IVA firm

Write to the firm, addressed to the insolvency practitioner named as your supervisor, and mark it as a formal complaint. Include:

• your name, IVA reference and the practitioner’s name
• what went wrong, with dates
• what you want to happen, such as an explanation, a correction, an apology or a refund of a fee
• copies (not originals) of letters, emails and statements that back it up

Keep a copy and a note of when you sent it. The Complaints Gateway will only take your complaint if you can show you complained to the practitioner first and gave them a fair chance to respond.

Step 2: the Insolvency Service Complaints Gateway

If the firm’s answer does not resolve things, you can complain online through the Insolvency Service. The Gateway is a single point of contact for complaints about the conduct of licensed insolvency practitioners in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and people acting on their behalf. Start on gov.uk’s complain about an insolvency practitioner page. You will need to know which body licenses your practitioner.

Time limit

Your complaint must be about something that happened in the last 3 years, or that you first found evidence of in the last 3 years.

What the Gateway can and cannot do

• It decides, within 15 business days, whether your complaint is about conduct likely to lead to disciplinary action, and if so refers it to the practitioner’s licensing body.
• It does not investigate in full or gather evidence for you, so send the key documents.
• It cannot deal with disagreements over decisions in your case, which usually have to go to court.
• It cannot get you compensation, and it cannot change your IVA.
• There is no appeal against a Gateway decision, but it will consider new evidence.

What the licensing body can do

The three licensing bodies are the Insolvency Practitioners Association (IPA), the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS). Each has its own disciplinary process. If a complaint is upheld, sanctions set under the Common Sanctions Guidance can include a reprimand, a severe reprimand, a financial penalty or withdrawal of the practitioner’s licence. Once you have been through the licensing body’s whole process, you can raise concerns about how it handled things with the Insolvency Service.

A revised Insolvency Code of Ethics and revised complaints guidance took effect on 1 October 2025. For more on how practitioners are licensed and what to expect from them, see what an insolvency practitioner is.

What if you disagree with a decision in your IVA?

A complaint looks at how a practitioner behaved. A disagreement about a decision, such as how your payment was set, whether a claim was accepted or whether your IVA should be ended, is different. The law lets you, a creditor or anyone else dissatisfied with an act, omission or decision of the supervisor apply to the court, which can confirm, reverse or change it, or give directions. Citizens Advice warns this can be expensive, so get advice first.

Complaining about a firm that advised or referred you

Many people reach an IVA through another firm first: a debt advice company, a website or a caller. The IVA Protocol requires your nominee to record who referred you in your proposal, and to make sure any referrer is FCA authorised for debt counselling. So your proposal should name them.

• If that firm is FCA authorised, complain to it in writing. Debt counselling is a regulated activity, so if the firm has not sent a final response within 8 weeks, or you are unhappy with it, you can take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. You normally have 6 months from the final response, and the complaint must usually be made within 6 years of the event, or 3 years from when you realised something was wrong if that is later.
• If it is not FCA authorised and it gave you debt advice, report it to the FCA. You can check a firm on the Financial Services Register.
• If an advert misled you, for example by promising a set amount written off or calling an IVA a government scheme, you can complain to the Advertising Standards Authority.

Our guide on how to spot a debt company or advert to avoid explains the warning signs regulators have published.

Can you change your IVA provider?

Not simply because you would prefer another firm. Your supervisor is appointed when creditors approve the IVA, and the standard terms set out how that can change:

• If a good reason is given, the supervisor can be removed by the court or by a resolution at a meeting of creditors.
• A creditor owed at least 25% of the total agreed debts can require the supervisor to call a meeting of creditors to remove them.
• If a supervisor resigns or cannot carry out their duties, an application can be made to court to transfer their cases to another supervisor.

The court can also appoint a replacement supervisor where it would otherwise be difficult or impracticable to do so. In practice, if you have a serious problem with your supervisor, complain first, then get advice about whether an application to court is realistic.

Ending your IVA and starting a new one with a different firm is not a way round this. Ending an IVA means no refund and creditors can chase the debts again with frozen interest added back, and creditors will want good reasons before approving a second IVA. See are there legitimate ways out of an IVA?.

What to do next

1. Put your complaint to the IVA firm in writing and keep copies of everything.
2. If you are not satisfied, use the Complaints Gateway within the 3-year time limit, with evidence that you complained to the firm first.
3. If your complaint is about a firm that advised or referred you, check whether it is FCA authorised and, if so, go to the Financial Ombudsman Service within 6 months of its final response.
4. A free, impartial debt adviser at MoneyHelper, StepChange, Citizens Advice or National Debtline can help you work out what to do, and look at other options if your IVA is no longer working. See where to get free debt advice, compare the alternatives in debt solutions compared, or go back to IVAs explained.